My next full-length novel, Mute Witness, should be out later this year from MLR Press. I have recently been working with the cover art to put a face on this very serious story (probably one of the most serious I've written to date) and we have finally decided on a concept.
Covers are one of the most trying and difficult parts of writing a book, even if you have no input into the design yourself. That old chestnut, "you can't judge a book by its cover" is probably one of the wrongest things I've ever heard. People can, and do, judge books by their covers...and people and other things too. We see with our eyes and this is how we form our first impressions. So if a book doesn't make that critical first impression on you, you will probably pass it by. And if a book has a simply dazzling cover, you may be more intrigued about the book than if it was fronted by a mediocre cover.
I hope the cover for Mute Witness makes a good first impression. I'd love it if you'd leave a comment below and let me know what you think.
Here's the back cover copy (which is also really cool, maybe even cooler than the front, since it's just the back of the boy's head). Read it and see if you think the cover does the storyline justice.
I hope you won't stay mute (groan!) on whether this cover would inspire you to check out the book inside.
Back cover copy:
Sean and Austin have the perfect life. Their new relationship is only made more joyous by weekend visits from Sean’s eight-year-old son, Jason.
And then their perfect world shatters.
Jason is missing.
When the boy turns up days later, he has been horribly abused and has lost the power to speak. Small town minds turn to the boy’s gay father and his lover as the likely culprits.
Sean and Austin struggle to maintain their relationship amid the innuendo and the very real threat that Sean will, at the very least, lose the son he loves. Meanwhile, the real villain is much closer to home, intent on ensuring the boy’s muteness is permanent.
Mute Witness should be out in late fall.
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